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New South Wales Sites

 

Murrays Beach, Wallarah Peninsula (Stages 1 to 7, Lake Sector)

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Landscape Architect: EDAW

Location: Murrays Beach, Wallarah Peninsula, New South Wales

Overview

BUDGET:  $3 million landscape construction budget for Stages 1-7, Lake Sector

Wallarah Peninsula is a 600-hectare area of land located some 125 kilometres north of Sydney in a spectacular location of elevated coastal land, bound by the Pacific Ocean and Lake Macquarie. The $500 million primarily residential Murray Beach development takes in all components of sustainability – environmental, social and financial. Since Stockland acquired the land, 180 of the 600 hectares have been transferred to the NSW State Government to create Wallarah National Park.

Since 1995, EDAW has provided ongoing master planning, management planning, concept development, development application and detailed landscape architectural documentation for Wallarah Peninsula, with a strong focus on the environmental quality of the landscape and the lifestyle of its end users. Such an environment requires careful planning, design and management to ensure maintenance of the inherent quality of the landscape as a long-term community asset. The methodology and approach to design was driven by a strong environmental philosophy, supported by fundamental landscape and urban design principles.

Murrays Beach (Stages 1-7, Lake Sector), sited on the eastern shore of Lake Macquarie, is the first stage of works to be constructed at Wallarah Peninsula, providing a benchmark for the development and implementation of future stages. The densely vegetated site has varied topography and magnificent scenic outlooks to Lake Macquarie. It comprises a Village Centre, Sales and Information Centre, Village Green and lakeside residential lots, which will form the focus of the Peninsula’s Lake Sector development. (Coastal and Northern Sectors are currently in their planning phases).

EDAW’s scope of work on the development application, design development and documentation of Murrays Beach (including a Lake Sector Landscape Report with design principles and Public Domain Design Guideline documents), encompassed:  

  • Vehicular access off Old Pacific Highway through to the Village (Village Drive);

  • Village Green, including boardwalk and stage;

  • Sales and Information Centre surrounds and car park;

  • Open space network and bushland parks;

  • Design and siting of cycle and pedestrian path networks;

  • Verification of building lots including retention of existing trees;

  • Seed collection and plant procurement;

  • Planting, as required, to disturbed areas;

  • Design and siting of site furniture; and

  • Concept development of lighting and signage strategies.

Other works carried out by EDAW linked with Murrays Beach include:

  • Upgrade of the Old Pacific Highway link to Swansea including new cycle connection;

  • Pedestrian pathway access to the Coastal Sector and north to Caves Beach; and

  • Concept designs for the Wallarah Peninsula Land Management and Rural Fire Services Centres.

Murrays Beach has been designed with sustainable environmental, social and economic outcomes as its core objectives. Stages 1-7 demonstrate a range of sustainable practices on the ground:

  • Development of stringent landscape and architectural guidelines;

  • All vegetation communities were mapped and reflected in seed collection, procurement and the planting of new vegetation;

  • Plant procurement, including the banking of 6 million seeds collected from within the site, with over 250,000 plants (all material for Stages 1-7) propagated in a dedicated off-site nursery;

  • Each tree (with a diameter of more than 75 millimetres) on site was surveyed, totalling more than 60,000 trees to date;

  • Careful planning of residential lots, based on site-specific topography, vegetation and hydrological conditions;

  • Consideration of canopy retention, in relation to views into the development from Lake Macquarie;

  • Limitations to cut and fill, ensuring the retention of pre-existing landform and undulating topography;

  • Installation of utilities in common trenches and service corridors, maximising vegetation retention onsite;

  • All rock recovered from site was reused in retaining elements, driveways, paths and carparks;

  • Public education, including an information centre on Swansea’s main street, a new information centre at Murrays Beach and the establishment of interpretive and information signage throughout the development; and

  • A Construction Management Strategy was prepared and site ‘environmental obligations’ training carried out for all contractors.

Murrays Beach is considered a best practice and pioneering exemplar of how a residential estate with outstanding ecological values and high sensitivity can be developed. To date, it has won both Sustainability and Green Smart Industry awards for the client, Stockland.

The development intent and approach used at Murrays Beach, to the best of our knowledge, is a first for New South Wales. The approach involved a comprehensive analysis of the site’s flora and fauna, landform and hydrology, using this information to dictate road and landscape design and lot layout, including the siting of building envelopes within individual lots. An indication of current success is the retention of over 70% of the original trees onsite within this stage of development.

The concepts and vision established in the master plan and management plans have been rigorously carried through to detailed design, documentation and construction, with a ‘hands on’ approach by site-based client management. The landscape design concepts do not express themselves as separate entities, instead, they tie back into the existing landscape – a ‘touching the land lightly approach’, creating an impression of minimal intervention for the user.

The design provides a high quality landscape setting for a prominent coastal development. The design challenge was to produce a solution to resolve the interface between public and private access, mitigate the scale of the architecture, be thermally comfortable, be suitable for an exposed marine environment and provide a variety of quality recreational spaces for residents.

Centred around the Village Green, Murrays Beach has been designed to integrate public and private open space. The provision of pedestrian and cycle paths within ‘green corridors’ has been designed to draw attention to the Village Green and Foreshore Reserve, which are the centre of community activity for the Lake Sector.

The landscape design of the interface between green corridors and residential lots was undertaken to ensure passive surveillance of the public open space. It also ensures there is limited delineation between the two, encouraging use of the public open spaces and taking advantage of the environment that is the focus of all preservation and sustainability foundations in the overall site design.

Sustainability principles drive this development, through the retention of existing vegetation and habitat, backed up by stringent design guidelines ensuring high quality outcomes. The development required the minimising of impacts on the landscape and the respect of local character and settlement scale. EDAW met these objectives by:

  • Adopting ecological and environmental design rigour for areas, such as the sensitive foreshore ecosystem, interfaces with the surrounding national park, vegetation communities, protection of wildlife habitat corridors and riparian zones, critical flora and fauna habitats, retention of significant trees, bushfire protection, water system management, weed management and seed collection and procurement;

  • Considering social requirements, such as continuous and safe public access throughout the development, environmental education of new residents, incorporation of a broad mix of lot types that respect local settlement scales (300-500 dwellings for residential villages) within neighbourhoods with clearly developed and distinctive identities and the provision of social amenities; and

  • Considering financial issues, such as public transport, vehicular and cycle connections to the local retail centre of Swansea and the upgrade of the Old Pacific Highway.

 

EDAW’s landscape approach to design creates a unique setting for the settlement, with road alignments following contours, built form kept below the canopy and over 70% of existing trees preserved. Provision of public pedestrian and cycle paths within a green network links all corners of the development to the Village Green and Foreshore Reserve, the centrepieces for community activity in the Lake Sector.

Located in a flat lakeside area of the site, it takes advantage of previously sand mined and grazed areas, allowing for increased preservation of areas containing greater ecological significance. It also provides for protection and identification of Aboriginal scar trees and their representation of the transition of the site from the past to the present.

The innovative design approach, along with the establishment of stringent landscape and architectural guidelines, has ensured Murrays Beach and future developments on the Wallarah Peninsula will respond directly to the site and its natural values and will not be lost through the manipulation of site topography and vegetation clearance.

During Stage 1-7 works, a rigorous site environmental management process was developed and implemented, in response to required Physical Infrastructure and Construction Management Plans. Their detailed and rigorous methodologies promote best practice and minimise environmental impacts on residential developments. This has ensured true realisation of the vision for Murrays Beach, with long-term development management guaranteed through the plans produced during the master plan approval process.

As mentioned, Murrays Beach is considered a best practice and pioneering exemplar of how a residential estate with outstanding ecological values and high sensitivity can be developed. To date, it has won both Sustainability and Green Smart Industry awards for the client, Stockland.

Sustainability principles drive this development, through the retention of existing vegetation and habitat, backed up by stringent design guidelines ensuring high quality outcomes. The development required the minimising of impacts on the landscape and the respect of local character and settlement scale. These elements have been discussed at length throughout this submission.

The mapping of vegetation communities, seed collection, procurement and propagation clearly demonstrates the development’s commitment to biodiversity and thorough integration with local ecosystems. This is further discussed below.

An integrated approach to stormwater management has been developed, resulting in treatment at-source rather than end-of–pipe solutions, such as detention basins. Management measures include:

  • Using native planting and retaining natural vegetation onsite, so irrigation is not required;

  • Incorporating swales along roads and, where appropriate, protecting water quality on-site by filtering runoff;

  • Establishing and retaining natural riparian corridors; and

  • Implementing guidelines requiring rainwater tanks on each lot.

 

  • The site Conservation Land Use Management Plan identified key vegetation communities, significant fauna habitat and important riparian areas and drainage corridors. As a result, 180 hectares were dedicated to National Parks and Wildlife Service to create Wallarah National Park. An extensive habitat corridor was also set aside, to connect the national park in the south with a significant stand of Forest Red Gum and Swamp Mahogany in the dedicated Foreshore Reserve in the north.
  • The habitat corridor contains the largest volume and best representation of variety and quality of species and communities. These dedicated havens for protection of biodiversity have been enhanced through the collection of local seed stock for use in future landscaping, and through the master plan design, which protects the riparian zones in vegetated buffers within the subdivision plans.
  • All landscape design and provisions within the public domain use of plantings from seed stock collected from the Wallarah Peninsula site, thereby maintaining and perpetuating the biodiversity of the area.

Landscape Materials

Specific attention has been given to resource recovery and appropriate reuse throughout the development, such as:

  • Recovering and reusing site rock in retention elements, driveways, pathways and carparks;

  • In-situ mulching of vegetation cleared for roads and services and its reuse in landscaping;

  • Relocating hollow bearing logs into wildlife habitat corridors;

  • Reuse logs for seating, fencing and steps where appropriate; and

  • Sourcing pathway aggregates from local quarries.

Microclimate

The Wallarah Peninsula experiences a very pleasant climate throughout the year. The annual mean temperature range fits reasonably within the typical thermal comfort range for temperate climates. In terms of microclimate creation and control, the dominant climatic factor therefore is wind conditions (direction and speed) rather than air temperature or humidity.

Consequently, the main consideration, in terms of creation of thermally comfortable microclimates, is the impact of wind and ways to either mitigate uncomfortable wind conditions or enhance favourable wind conditions. Passive strategies used in the creation of thermally comfortable microclimates, such as evaporative cooling techniques or passive solar heating techniques, are secondary to the control of local wind patterns.

The most efficient way to control adverse or beneficial winds is the creation of natural windbreaks and wind-paths through the strategic planting of trees and shrubs.

At Murrays Beach, the native tree planting strategy includes:

  • Planting of native species to thwart, break and re-direct uncomfortable (cold, hot or strong) winds; and

  • Planting of native species to harness and re-direct favourable (cool and gentle) winds.

  • Appropriate native tree species such as casuarina, tuckeroo, banksia and acacia have been applied in this regard.

Energy Use & Maintenance

  • Design guidelines for Murrays Beach provide requirements for built form design, including:

Passive design of buildings to minimise the need for mechanical heating and cooling;

Materials and provisions to ensure adequate roof space to accommodate solar panels for energy preparation.

Relevance to profession of landscape architecture, the public and the education of future practitioners

Expands the scope of the profession in formative, forward-thinking and thought-provoking ways

The design approach adopted Murrays Beach, at first hand, may not appear cost effective. However, as high quality natural living environments become increasingly rare, urban release areas that preserve these environments as an integral components of design are becoming more desirable, producing a more valuable outcome. Regulators will likely look to Murrays Beach as an example of how innovative approaches to environment can be implemented in this type of development.

Demonstrates the fusion of practice and theory

The design of Murrays Beach encapsulated the vision of creating a truly sustainable coastal development. Its location, cradled between Lake Macquarie and the Pacific Ocean, with a burning coal seam running down its spine, have dictated the unique planning and design approach. The environmental sensitivities of the site were recognised as its greatest attribute. Recognising this, a Conservation Land Use Management Plan was prepared for the site, to assess and map its physical aspects, including:

  • Topography;
  • Vegetation communities;
  • Significant habitat;
  • Hydrology;
  • Geotechnical matters; and
  • Visual impacts, to and from the site from the lake and the ocean.

Outcomes of the Conservation Land Use Management Plan informed the Local Environmental Plan, establishing the design theory to be carried throughout the master planning, design and development approvals processes and ultimately to implementation. EDAW, Stockland and Lake Macquarie City Council worked together throughout these processes, and this continuity ensured practice and theory were consistent throughout and that the environmental attributes of the site will be preserved in perpetuity.

The landscape-based approach adopted by all experts working within the multidisciplinary project team is unique to the Wallarah Peninsula. By holding the existing landscape at the centre of planning and design of the site, a truly sustainable outcome that protects and enhances biodiversity within built form and community has been achieved. At the heart of the process, EDAW’s landscape architects have shaped the master planning process, through documentation and implementation on site, representing a clear demonstration of the flexibility of the profession from theory through to construction.

 

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